Braga Up For More Social Commentaries

In a chat with fans at his official website, Brannon Braga explained that he'd like to see more social commentary episodes, but only if they were done properly.

"We have dealt with a number of social issues in the first two seasons," he said (via a transcript at the Brannon Braga web site). "'Detained' dealt with racial profiling... 'Stigma' dealt with intolerance... but I wish we'd done more of these types of shows so far. I think they are a vital ingredient in the Star Trek recipe. The problem is these kinds of stories are hard to come by. We don't want to tackle an issue unless we can do it in a subtle way using a science-fiction metaphor."

Braga said that the producers were happy with the characters' interaction, and talked about the relationship between Tucker and T'Pol. "We've been very pleased with the way the character relationships have been evolving," he said. "It's true that there has been less Trip/T'Pol conflict, but that was not a conscious decision. We also enjoy their sparing dynamic; perhaps you'll see more in the future. It's difficult to juggle all of the character relationships all the time."

In regards to T'Pol, Braga doesn't believe that she is too "sexualised". "There's been a lot of controversy about that," he said. "We are very, very careful not to objectify her or any member of the cast. However, you may have noticed that the men on the crew are pretty sexy, too."

But what every fans really wants to know about is Enterprise's most important cast member. "Enterpaws. We miss Porthos, too! You will see him again. We like to use him sparingly."

You can read the full chat transcript here at the Brannon Braga web site.